Tag: shanghai

Chuck Norris doesn’t shower. He takes bloodbaths. And that is what the Chuck Norris Fan Club, Shanghai’s best dodgeball team, has unleashed upon the league since its creation last spring. CNFC is Undefeated for Life, an amazing run that includes one league championship (the first ever), and a run that was nearly brought to an end last night by the talented Golden Balls.

It was a tense match, with tempers flaring (as they always do when talented teams meet). The Golden Balls had CNFC down 3-2, but the Chuckers wrested victory from their opponents with a thrilling finish that featured a truly inspired performance from one Coley Dale.

It was a battle that brought back memories for Chuck Norris Fan Club. In the championship match last season CNFC was brought to the brink of destruction – yet survived. Though they trailed 2-1 and later 3-2, CNFC came from out of nowhere, much like their hero, to defeat their laughing foes and savor the sweet taste of victory.

Shown here is the Maglev train in Shanghai, hailed as a marvel of engineering, and indeed it is. Yet due to some poor foresight by the city planners, Shanghai’s magnetic levitation rail system is completely useless.

The maglev was designed and sold as a way to cut travel time to and from Pudong Airport, which in a taxi usually takes about 90 minutes or so. On the maglev, it was and is still claimed, that trip would be reduced to seven minutes, by traveling at speeds of up to 435 km/hour (270mph). Sounds great, right? Except that the location chosen for the “downtown” station is nowhere near downtown. It’s in Longyang, which is still a good hour from the city center by subway. Which means that after you take the super-fast maglev (and pay the 50 kuai ticket), you then have to take the regular metro line or grab a taxi. We did it once, for the experience. Never again.

Last weekend we went out and played football at Century Park, and it was just like the old days back on the schoolyard. Going long, running buttonhook patterns (you still think that will fake people out), listening in on the other team’s huddle (“I can go as far as the ball!”), one blitz per four downs, end zones that go on for infinity… as Cartman might say, “So sweet…”